People always use to say that love is blind. It is a common expression we hear quite often, but what does it actually mean? Do our eyes fail us when we fall in love? Or do we simply decide to perceive others in a new way because of our feelings?
Love is a funny thing. At times it seems to be the most wonderful thing in the whole wide world. It makes the person happy, gives a feeling of security, and creates a bond with others. But it can also be very perplexing and even cause a person's heart to ache. We sometimes even ask ourselves if the being blind to love is what makes it so amazingly beautiful and yet so dangerously risky.
Initially, I believed that the phrase "love is blind" referred to the fact that people were not able to identify the characters' weaknesses. That they were just unaware of the actual situation. But with time, I realized it wasn't always like that. When you love someone, you are probably going to recognize their imperfections. Yet you don't allow those imperfections to overshadow the rest of the qualities. You find yourself saying, "Of course, they are not perfect. But neither am I. And I still give them my love."
Love can in fact be a double edged sword. One of the downsides of love is that it can blind us in a damaging manner. We purposely overlook the warning signs falsehoods, disrespect, and selfishness. We refuse to leave the relationship as long as it takes because our hearts are still in denial about the situation. We then rewind and wonder, "What was I thinking, why did I endure that?" It is at that point that love's blindness turns to be dangerous. Nevertheless, I still don't regret loving.
Love is the greatest teacher. It reveals to us the qualities of patience, empathy, and even to be strong. Sometimes it imparts the lesson of what we should never repeat. How else would we get these lessons about ourselves and others if not through love?
Love blindness is not necessarily negative all the time. The parents exemplify it in the relationship with their children. They are aware of their kids’ errors and shortcomings, yet their affection makes them recognize potential and expectation. Friends also behave in the same way. They pardon and omit certain things, not due to the fact that they are not aware of them, but owing to that they love the person more than the defects. Such a sort of blindness is not a downfall. It is a blessing.
Perhaps the main question is not whether love is blind, but how it is. At times it hides from us aspects that shatter our hearts. Then there are moments that it hides from us in such a way that we are able to continue during difficult periods. One demolishes, the other mends.
Love may be allowed some blindness as well. Would we dare to love if all we saw were the risks, the imperfections, and the probability of a heartbreak? Possibly it is the blindness that gives us the mere amount of trust needed to take the plunge.
Still, love should not erase our sense of self. It should not blind us to abuse, lies, or neglect. Healthy love allows forgiveness, but not at the cost of respect. If love makes you smaller instead of stronger, that’s not love. That’s a trap.
But when love makes us blind to little imperfections like habits, quirks, or mistakes that can be a good thing. It’s what makes living with another human possible. None of us are perfect. Grace keeps us together.
From my own experience, love has made me both blind and aware. Blind in the moments I overlooked things I shouldn’t have. Aware in the lessons I carried forward like learning that kindness and loyalty matter far more than appearances or status.
Is love really blind? I do not think that it is blindness in the proper sense. It loves, but it loves differently. The heart sees more than the eyes. And that makes all the difference.
Love does not require us to discover a flawless individual. What it demands from us is to recognize an imperfect person as the one with which we become the perfect. Might be the most truthful of the saying.
Eventually, love blindness is not about closing our eyes. It is about changing our outlook. At times it is sagely, at times it is foolhardy. But it always alters the way we see.